UK terror plot: Cops raid cafes, recover arms

Continuing their probe into the conspiracy to blow up US-bound flights, British police raided two internet cafes in London and reportedly found firearms near an area where some suspects were arrested.

Police on Tuesday said they had raided two internet cafes on Thursday in central Slough, not far from the High Wycombe area where several suspects were arrested last week.

A search of the homes of some suspects and of Woodland area in High Wycombe turned up several firearms and other items, BBC news said.

Three people of Indian origin, tracing their roots to Gujarat, were among the 24 people arrested last Thursday in connection with the foiled plot. Besides Abdul Patel, the 17-year-old son of a Gujarati migrant, police held Patel's wife Sophia, 24, and her father, sources said.

Passengers at Britain's airports were allowed to carry single, briefcase-size bags and permitted to have mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices a day after the government dropped its terror threat level from 'critical' to 'severe'.

Officials were also considering a system of passenger profiling that would select people behaving suspiciously, who had an unusual travel pattern or were of a certain religious background. This was criticised by leaders of the Muslim community who said it would further isolate British Muslims.

Reports said up to 50 people across the world may have been part of the plot to explode bombs on planes heading from Britain to the US, an official document has said, even as some prisoners in Pakistan were questioned in connection with the conspiracy.